Monmouth University has announced the new hire of Patrick Elliot as Senior Associate Director for Annual Giving, NIL, and Revenue Generation. With this new hire and the athletic department aiming to expand their horizons, The Outlook editors discussed the importance of the NIL and revenue for the university. The term NIL means Name, Image, and Likeness, which allows the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) opportunity to give endorsements and benefits to college athletes. It’s a big deal to both the University as an organization, our athletic teams, and the athletes.
Our editors were asked how important, do they feel, NIL is to our athletic department and university. One editor said, “I think NIL money is ruining collegiate sports. NIL combined with the transfer portal is changing athletics and not in a good way in my opinion. Of course, MU has to stay up to date in the game and jump in on the NIL situation, however, I don’t think it’s as important here.”
Another editor had a different opinion considering their knowledge on athletics is limited.
“I’m going to be honest, I know very little about NIL and what it means for our athletes. Our school isn’t as prominent as, say, Michigan or even Rutgers, so to me our sports are constantly overvalued in terms of revenue.”
Editors were also asked if they think Monmouth pours more into athletics than other departments, or if they think there’s about the same amount as everyone. One editor had a strong opinion considering recent Monmouth news. They said, “Our school can barely pay to fix the living situation and dorms, which have mold and sometimes even bugs. So yes, I think Monmouth is allocating too much money into certain departments.”
Another editor had a differing opinion and said, “As a D1 school, I think Monmouth supports athletics and other departments equally. I don’t think we are the type of school that lets athletes’ kind of slide by while everyone else works hard academically.”
The editors were also asked if they believe the community and university support athletics enough. One editor had a strong opinion on this issue, saying that the students on campus lack school spirit. They said, “I think the school itself does its fair share, however the student body does not at all. The school spirit at this school is some of the worst I’ve seen. Students simply don’t show out for our athletic teams. I do think it has improved in the past few years, but it’s still pretty dang low.”
Another editor had a similar sentiment, claiming that women’s sports in particular is not supported enough by the student brass. They said, “I think that our university and the staff definitely support athletics, but the campus community only supports certain sports. I’ve been to one of almost every team on campus’s games, and the only ones I see sizable crowds at are men’s football and basketball. Our campus does not support female athletes, and they do not support teams that do not play popular sports.”
A third editor disagreed with both of the above statements, and simply said, “I do think that our community and university supports student athletes.”
Over the past few years, NIL has become a mainstay in college sports and it continues to grow more of an influence yearly. Colleges across the country from big to small will have to continue to adapt to a changing landscape as money takes center stage.
